head into a moderate westerly gale. The day was spent in this 

 manner with sufficient steerageway only to hold the ship's head up 

 to wind and sea. Due to the fact that we were on the shallowest 

 part of the Bank, the waves were very short and "cobbly, " and 

 one sea larger than the others caught our starboard bow just at the 

 right moment, breaking on board and washing a deck box aft beyond 

 the galley. It also bent over and fractured a stanchion which held 

 the forward part of a small canvass awning spread between the 

 cabin and rail. Under such w^eather conditions as prevailed this 

 day any plans for carrying on a program of ice scouting were forced 

 to be postponed. 



April 13 provided better weather and so a start was made to 

 search part of the icy current. At 3 o'clock in the afternoon we 

 reached a position for heading northward along the eastern edge of 

 the Bank, and we paused long enough to hold memorial services 

 for the Titanic dead. This ceremony has now become a more or less 

 established custom of the ice patrol vessel each year, and as usual 

 a message was broadcasted to passing ships requesting, them to 

 observe a respectful silence from 0700 to 0715 Greenwich civil time, 

 while the actual rites were being paid on the Modoc. Earh^ this 

 morning the steamer Alaunia informed us that she was stuck fast 

 in an ice field which was located to the south and west of the entrance 

 to the Gulf of St. Lawrence (Cabot Strait). Later this same day 

 this ship discovered a lead and freed herself in open water. Every- 

 thing was all right with the Alaunia when on April 14 she sent the 

 patrol a radio that she had left behind the last of the St. Lawrence 

 fields and was then proceeding eastward past Cape Race. 



The Modoc made an excursion to the eastward of the Grand Banks 

 on the 14th to the 17th in search of three small bergs reported by a 

 passing vessel. The cruise was a fruitless one as the ice was not 

 located. A great deal of fuel was expended in returning to the 

 westward because of bucking the strong westerly gales and mountain- 

 ous seas. We finally reached the east edge of the Bank on the 19th 

 instant where the ship remained anchored for the next four days. 



The weather made a change for the better on the 22d which was in 

 agreement with the atmospheric pressure distribution as outlined 

 on the meteorological map. This plainl}'- indicated that the pressure 

 gradients were quite small and the progressive movements of the 

 centers of low pressure were relatively slow. All of this pointed 

 toward the advent of summer time conditions and marked a great 

 change from the weather that had prevailed since the inauguration 

 of the patrol. Many reports were received this day from ships on 

 track E bound for St. Lawrence ports. As they crossed from the 

 deep water of the Atlantic on to the continental shelf they sighted 



